Chaldean patriarch emphasizes: the priesthood is ‘not a business’ July 9

10 July 2013: Less than six months after his election as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako has rebuked priests, who do not focus on the spiritual care of their people. “Some priests have turned their parishes in little empires,” he said in a July 3 letter, and others “have left Iraq without the bishop’s permission, have applied for political asylum, or have left their Church and joined another church. Some do not celebrate Mass except on Saturdays and Sundays. Some do not preach or, when they do, they turn their homilies into insults or requests for money.” The situation “cannot continue, for priesthood is a mission, not a profession or a business,” he added. Source: CWN